“According to Ames, you were on your way.”
“He said that about me?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I don’t think he likes me much.”
“Well, I don’t know about that.”
“He also told you I was ‘hostile’.”
“True, but I think he meant it in a good way,” Brantley said and then went around the truck and climbed in. Margot got in the seat next to him.
The motel looked run down. There were no cars parked in the lot. If she hadn’t known better, Margot would have guessed they were out of business. There was a clerk in the office though, an elderly man who looked annoyed that Margot and Brantley had shown up. He gave them a room key to room sixteen, which was sealed off with crime scene tape.
“Which room did Stick stay in?” Margot asked. “Is it occupied?”
“
Sorry, but that’s my only customer right now,” the old man said.
“You only have one customer, and you gave him that room?”
“It’s the slow season, which is also the hot season. Keeping those rooms cool costs money so I only keep the A/C on in two units this time of year. One of them was the unfortunate young man’s room.”
“You could have put him in the other one.”
“I suggested it, but he liked the location of room eight better. I don’t blame him. The view is better.”
“He walk here?” Brantley said as he motioned to the empty parking lot.
“No, he just went for a drive or something. That’s not really my business.”
“Can you tell us about him? What does he drive?”
“Why?”
“He picked a murder victim’s room. I find that curious.”
The clerk shrugged. “I don’t. There’s only two rooms, and like I said, that one has the better view.”
“Does he drive a white Cadillac convertible?” Margot asked, thinking about the man dressed as a cowboy at Shaw’s office.
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s a yes or no question.”
“No. He paid for the next two days, so if you want to know anything about him, why don’t you ask him when he gets back. His car will probably be the only one in the lot.”
“I just might do that,” Brantley said.
“Whatever floats your boat,” the clerk told them.
They walked over to the crime scene room.
“What is it about a white caddy?” Brantley asked as they made their way across the gravel parking lot.
“Probably nothing. Probably less than nothing.”